A careful estimate places the number of men engaged in building construction in Cleveland at the present time at about 30,000, comprising more than one-fifth of the total number employed in manufacturing and mechanical occupations. About two-thirds of these workmen are skilled artisans, distributed among some 20 different trades. The estimated number in each trade is shown in Table 22.
The building trades get their workers from four principal sources: immigration, native journeymen from outside the city, helpers, and apprentices. Immigration contributes the largest proportion in both skilled and unskilled work, practically monopolizing the latter. Over four-fifths of all cabinet makers, more than two-thirds of all brick and stone masons, and nearly two-thirds of all carpenters are foreign born. Plumbers and steam-fitters show the smallest proportion of foreign labor.
TABLE 22.--ESTIMATED NUMBER OF MEN ENGAGED IN BUILDING TRADES, 1915
----------------------------------------+------------------+ Workers in trade | Number employed | ----------------------------------------+------------------+ Carpenters | 7,105 | Painters, glaziers, varnishers | 2,746 | Plumbers, gas- and steam-fitters | 2,014 | Bricklayers | 1,800 | Machine woodworkers | 1,198 | Sheet metal workers or tinsmiths | 1,069 | Cabinet-makers | 895 | Inside wiremen and fixture hangers | 750 | Plasterers | 638 | Paperhangers | 379 | Structural iron workers | 356 | Roofers and slaters | 315 | Stone-cutters | 292 | Lathers | 275 | Stone masons and marble setters | 250 | Ornamental iron workers | 200 | Cement finishers | 200 | Hoisting engineers | 150 | Elevator constructors | 100 | Parquet floor layers | 100 | Tile-layer | 100 | Asbestos workers | 75 | Wood carvers | 63 | Helpers | 926 | Apprentices | 306 | ----------------------------------------+------------------+ Total | 22,302 | ----------------------------------------+------------------+
The general decline of the apprenticeship system which began with the invention of modern labor-saving machinery has affected the building trades least of all. Here it survives in an active state and is steadily gaining ground. It is in favor with many employers and with all unions. The best apprenticeship systems are found in the strongly organized trades.